The Relationship of Emotional Intelligence with Anxiety among Students

Abstract

Anxiety is an established concept within today’s educational setting. From test anxiety to difficulties adapting at school or university, anxiety negatively impacts the performance and mental health of students. Emotional intelligence equips us to manage stress and anxiety effectively in School. At school, there were learners from various social, cultural, and economic backgrounds, resulting in the school atmosphere having diverse effects on their degree of affiliation and interaction. The current research seeks to explore the connection between these two concepts within the school setting. The Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT 1998) is used to assess the construct of emotional intelligence. The concept of anxiety was assessed using Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (1988). Sixty (60) students from Kalinga Uuniversity constitute the sample of this study. The gathered data was evaluated using Correlation and t tests via SPSS. The findings indicated a negative relationship between emotional intelligence and anxiety (r=-0.34, p<.001). The findings indicated that there is no notable difference in emotional intelligence based on gender (t=0.790, p=.433). However, a notable difference exists in the level of anxiety between genders, with males scoring marginally higher than females (t=2.172, p=.035). Students with high emotional intelligence demonstrated greater maturity in handling stressful situations compared to those with low emotional intelligence, resulting in lower levels of anxiety.